The People's Assembly Against Austerity is holding a march for health, homes, jobs and education on Saturday 16 april 2016, why should greens support it?

Climate change and the human-driven forces behind it are
spreading new diseases. As eco systems all over the world are disrupted and
destroyed to extract raw materials and to create the infrastructure for this extraction;
and then also, for manufacturing and expanding human settlement, some organisms
will move into new environments. This is nothing new, it has been happening for
centuries, it is a process accelerated with and by increasing international trade.
It causes climate change which alters the geographic ranges of organisms and it
impacts human populations and/or their food animals and plants as diseases and
pests may encounter species that have historically evolved no resistance to
them.

Additionally the exploitation of new environments, coupled
with climate change can bring about increased catastrophic events: floods,
droughts, landslides wild fires and storms to name a few.

The icing on the cake, or the shit in the sandwich, may be
loss of biodiversity, many species will be made extinct. This has moral
implications, raising the question of what right homo sapiens has to give its
existence, comfort and cultural needs precedence over the existence of some
other animals, plants and slime moulds. It has practical implications as well;
we may not know of the potential medicinal value of a threatened species until
after it has gone; and we may not know the importance of species for others in
its ecosystem. An example being the Mauritian tree whose seeds could only
germinate if they had been swallowed by a dodo and had their casing softened in
the dodo’s crop.

All this means we need our Health Services, and the
scientific research on which they are based, more than ever. We will also need
our emergency services more. These services need to be available to as many as
need them, publicly provided and free at the point of use.

HOUSING

Climate change produces refugees because it will destroy some
peoples’ habitats; their housing and/or the lands or waters that they need for
food. It also generates resource wars, which often have the effect of making
human survival in some areas perilous in the extreme and degrading environments
so that they are no longer habitable. Refugees tend to up in very low grade
housing, at its most extreme in tents, shacks and shipping containers. One step
up from that, in Britain, they’ll likely end up in an underprivileged and
vulnerable position in a housing market rigged by the government against poor
people in general.

Social housing provision In Britain is being squeezed out of existence
and as precedence is given to profit-motivated developers of housing for the rich,
a process of ’social cleansing’ is taking place in some areas. The effects of
this are to create a housing distribution which is almost exactly opposite to one
which makes any kind of environmental sense. Instead of housing people near to
their work, it maximises the amount of commuting that they do, and the amount
of carbon emissions, whilst minimising the potential for using low carbon forms
of transport such as walking and cycling. As this travelling time cuts out
large slices of what could be leisure or family time a more sensible policy of providing
affordable housing near people’s’ work could be an issue where housing activists
could make common cause, since travelling time is effectively often work time
being given to employers for free.

Then there is the question of what kind of housing we need as
well as who it’s for and where it is. Often when climate change is discussed, the
building of new energy providing devices is emphasised, but emission reduction
also entails using less energy. This could
mean a shorter commute but it must also entail far better home insulation, possibly
incorporating forms of micro generation, roof top solar panels being an obvious
example. Other means of energy saving in housing could be possible, such as
sharing some facilities between households, but other technical innovations may
be possible or could be invented and developed. These possibilities have
implications for jobs and education.

JOBS

Creation of a low carbon economy could involve the creation of
millions of jobs, maybe more than the 1m initial target in the ccc pamphlet,
expansion of the health and housing sectors have already been mentioned, but
there are many other areas which could expand: renewables, recycling, alternative
transport modes, a renovation of a canal system as transport, the re-extension
of rail, wind power for shipping, localised agricultural production and yet again more scientific research.

EDUCATION

Education could be added to the list of job sectors that
should be expanded to create and maintain a low carbon economy. The school
sector has a role to play, but so does adult, further and higher education both
in educating and training workers for new and expanded industries; and if the
transition to these is to be just, workers in those industries that will
decline may well need retraining. Since the creation of a low carbon economy,
will involve continuing innovations based on scientific and technological research
the education it needs is a flexible one where people can move in and out of
work to retrain as the economy develops and changes.

Achieving this is not just about expanding that which now
exists, it is about redefining, the relation of education to industries,
communities, science and to the local and central state. In many ways education
needs to be autonomous, the types of teaching and research should not be dictated
or restricted by commercial or sectional interests, which are now far too
easily able to purchase the types of education and research that suit them.
However education needs to have some accountability to the communities where it
is located which means elected representation for trades unions and community
organisations, (including the parents of school students), precisely to prevent
education institutions only serving one
part of a community or one firm.

The public education needed to develop a low carbon economy.is
now under attack and needs defending.

Ecosocialist Network

Individuals from a variety of Green and/or Left political organisations and traditions in the UK are now engaged in launching an Ecosocialist Network, intended to include Ecosocialsts, from various political parties or none.
Green Left, a left tendency within the Green Party of England and Wales decided to support this step in a recent poll of its members and some initial responses suggest that others also share the perception that there is a political opening for Ecosocialists to get organised, and indeed an urgent need to make this happen.
We are holding an organising meeting on 4 February in London. If you are interested in attending this meeting and/or joining a ESNet mailing list, please contact: yrrumuk@googlemail.com

The next Green Left Meetings

16 September 2017London18 November 2017Birmingham20 January 2018London14 April 2018Preston or Manchester9 June 2018Brighton21.July 2018 (AGM)London

GL BLOGPOLICY

This Blog aims to provide a discussion forum for and about Green Left. Postings to it may be text or graphics, they do not have to be absolutely in accord with the views of Green Left, nor, since one of Green Left's current aims is to change the policies of the Green Party of England and Wales do they have to be in accord with the policies of GPEW.

Postings can be sent to yrrumuk@googlemail.com .The Committee of Green Left reserves the right to refuse any posting.